celebrating 200 years

Markers tour feedback

..the guided tour was not only an insight into the physical environment of The Royal Edinburgh Hospital but a much privileged access to the environment of a patient’s mind. The lady who took us around really took us back to moments she experienced whilst in that facility, sometimes humorous, often full of pathos but always insightful and honest authenticity. The result was a step into a world, god forbid, that you would never really want to visit as a patient, yet knowing full well that if you ever needed to, you would be in the best of all places at the Royal Edinburgh, cared for and understood and guided towards recovery and rehabilitation. People need to know more about mental illness and its treatments to help reduce persisting stigma and misunderstood ideas of what it is really like. The 200th anniversary events enable this to take place.

the project

The ‘Ever Present Past’ project at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital was developed and coordinated by Artlink. The project explored the history of the Hospital through a series of talks, events and workshops and artist placements throughout 2013 – the Hospital’s bi-centenary year culminated in a public exhibition at the Talbot Rice Gallery from 16th November 2013 to 15th February 2014 .